1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and system for establishing teleconferences. More specifically, the present invention relates to a new and improved method of establishing dial-out, multi-party teleconferences without the need for human operator support or reservations made in advance.
2. Description of the Background
Known teleconference systems are generally classified into one of two types of systems: 1) dial-in conferences and 2) dial-out or dial-up conferences; however, both types of systems are used for establishing teleconferences, i.e., telephone communications between two or more parties. Stanley et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,635,251; and Frey et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,577,065; disclose dial-in conference systems. Before a dial-in conference is established, a reservation is made in advance with an operator (or automated equivalent), typically a few days before the teleconference. The reservation made in advance includes the time at which the teleconference will begin and the names or phone numbers of the parties that have been invited to participate. The operator reserves for the specified time a portion of a specialized telephone switch, called a bridge, which will join or xe2x80x9cbridgexe2x80x9d calls from each participating caller with each of the other callers. Examples of known bridges are 1) the LNX 2000 by Excel and 2) the SDS-500 by Summa Four Inc. At the reserved time, callers dial into a centralized telephone number, typically an 800-number, and are added to the conference, based on their calling telephone number, the participants name, a conference identification or other suitable identifying means. The system, however, has the disadvantages of: 1) using reservations made in advance which prevent spontaneous teleconferences, and 2) not always indicating who is present on the teleconference at any given time.
Known dial-out or dial-up conference systems, such as those disclosed in Yunoki, U.S. Pat. No. 5,408,518; and Hogan et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,483,587; use reservations made in advance and operate similarly to the dial-in conference. However, in dial-out conferences the bridge uses the information in the reservation made in advance to call the participants individually. As each new participant accepts the invitation to join, the bridge connects the new participant with any other participants, thereby forming the teleconference. Disadvantages of this type of dial-out system are that: 1) the conference initiator does not have control of the order of dialing or the removal of unwanted parties, and 2) a reservation has to be made in advance to use the system.
The present invention addresses the deficiencies of known systems 1) which do not provide user-controlled dialing, 2) which do not display the status of participants, 3) which require reservations to be made in advance, and 4) which require operator intervention to establish a teleconference. The present invention utilizes a graphical user interface to identify potential participants in a teleconference, specify a user-controlled dial-up/hang-up order, and monitor the status of participants to the teleconference. The method and system receive conference commands from a World Wide Web (WWW) browser and translate the conference commands into commands that control a telephone bridge. The best presently known mode of implementing the present invention is with a specially programmed general purpose microprocessor programmed using microprocessor-specific executable instructions and which communicates with a telephone bridge. The instructions are generated by compiling a high-level computer language program, assembling a low-level computer program, and linking the two to produce an executable program. The executable program implements the method and system, and the executable instructions are written into a computer memory readable by the general purpose microprocessor.